The NHL Believes Any Publicity Is Good Publicity

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This is the "How Do You Like Me Now, Moose!?" face.Photo: Getty Images

The North American portion of the NHL schedule begins tonight, and the league will apparently take attention wherever they can get it. So when the Flyers open their season in Philly against the Rangers on Saturday, the ceremonial first puck will be dropped by none other than the country’s most famous hockey mom, Sarah Palin. This sounds like a far worse idea for Palin than for the Flyers, as there aren’t many environments more hostile than Philadelphia sporting venues. The political affiliations of those in attendance really won’t much matter, either; these are people who once booed Santa Claus, for goodnesssake.

But hey, publicity is publicity, right? And they could have chosen a worse photo-op, right? As Palin would say, you betcha! Yes, that was Gary Bettman ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. We’re not sure which is scarier: the fact that the NHL is trying to associate itself with the rock that is Wall Street, or the fact that Wall Street is trying to associate itself with the ratings bonanza that is the NHL. Either way, we’re going to go ahead and sell our Rangers tickets for tomorrow night, and then stash the money under our mattress just to besafe.